Major Medical / Catastrophic Health Insurance - An Overview

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Some Useful Information on Major Medical / Catastrophic Health Insurance

Traditional indemnity involves everything from basic coverage to coverage for adverse situations. While you can describe the former as just basic health coverage, the latter is usually given the name of major medical plan or catastrophic health insurance. Employers usually offer major medical plans. This happens especially when they do not or cannot provide regular group health coverage. The peculiarity of catastrophic health insurance is that it does not suffice for basic services and doctor visits. Major medical plan features are more suited for serious illnesses and severe accidents. Another characteristic of a major medical is that it puts maximum control in the hands of the policyholder by letting him choose services he requires and otherwise. If you opt for catastrophic insurance, you need to pay high deductible and low monthly premiums.

Major medical plans are good for those of you who anticipate adverse health conditions and want to prepare yourself accordingly. But catastrophic insurance may not be the best of choices for persons seeking maternity care and other pregnancy services. And even if they do benefits do not become effectual before at least a year after you have signed up for the policy. Deductibles for these plans are never lesser than $500 and go up to a lump sum amount. Innumerable major medical policyholders try to forego on a larger deductible with the hopes of cutting down costs. But sadly, more often than not, these attempts backfire. Take for an example a circumstance where you need expensive surgery whereas youíve chosen s deductible amount of $20, 000. If the expense of the surgery overtakes the deductible amount youíll be in a big fix, since youíll need to shell out the entire money from your own pocket. So think before you take a hasty decision about the deductible choice.

The maximum benefit limits on catastrophic health insurance plans are usually quite high. On an average, they stay anywhere between $1 million and $3 million. Once you reach the mentioned benefit maximum on your policy you can expect to be disregarded by the company as a policyholder. That is because the moment you reach the maximum your policy fails to pay up for eligible medical costs and you need to cough up the entire amount. Now you might ask what benefits does one get on major medicals? Well, benefits range from hospital services and surgical care to X- rays and lab tests usually. Apart from not offering pregnancy care (as mentioned earlier), major medicals fail to pay for office visits, prescription drugs and mental health too.

So what are the finer points that you canít forget while purchasing a major medical plan? Firstly, it is the deductible. Is it too high for you and if yes, do you think it can help during an adverse health condition? Secondly, it is the premium amount. How do you need to pay the premiums and how much do they amount to? Thirdly comes coverage concerns. How extensive do you want it to be? Are you ready to pay more for extra coverage? Fourthly and finally, how much are you ready to shell out as out- of- pocket expenses?